Justice News

– Firearms were secreted inside video game systems for shipment to foreign addresses

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – A Bowling Green, Kentucky, man pled guilty in United States District Court today, to a four-count federal Indictment charging him with exporting firearms from the United States announced David J. Hale, United States Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky.

According to the Plea Agreement, Adam Bunger, age 34, between June 13, 2013, and August 8, 2013, knowingly exported and sent firearms from the United States. He did so contrary to the laws and regulations of the United States. Specifically, he placed in the United States Mail – parcels that included firearms that had been hidden inside videogame systems. He shipped the firearms to Australia, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Two of the firearms shipped in foreign commerce had the manufacturer’s serial number removed, obliterated, and altered.

Bunger was not a licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, or licensed dealer of firearms. Nevertheless, he willfully engaged in the business of dealing in firearms. In the course of that conduct, he shipped and transported firearms in foreign commerce as specified above. He also knowingly and willfully delivered packages to a common or contract carrier for transportation and shipment in foreign commerce. The persons receiving the shipments from Bunger were not licensed importers, licensed manufacturers, licensed dealers, or licensed collectors of firearms. Additionally, Bunger did not provide written notice to the carrier that the packages contained firearms or ammunition.

According to an Affidavit attached to a Criminal Complaint, Australian Federal Police contacted a Special Agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on July 8, 2013, after a forensic examination of a parcel shipped from Bowling Green, Kentucky, revealed two empty magazines, gun parts and a Modelo Super 9mm pistol inside an Xbox game system’s interior cavity. The gun sale was made through a website -- Black Market Reloaded. On July 18, 2013, two international packages were seized from the Bowling Green Post Office and a search warrant revealed a disassembled, Uzi-style pistol having an obliterated serial number contained inside a hollow Xbox console, addressed to an individual in the United Kingdom. The second international package, addressed to an individual in Australia, contained firearm parts for an assault rifle which were concealed inside a DVD player. On August 9, 2013, a federal search warrant was obtained and executed on the other international package seized from the U.S. Post Office branch in Bowling Green. The package, addressed to an individual in Sweden, contained a disassembled Taurus .22 caliber pistol with an obliterated serial number and magazine. The firearm was contained inside a metal computer switching power supply box. Two postal clerks identified the defendant, Adam Bunger, as the individual who attempted to ship the international packages.

Bunger faces a maximum 25-year prison term, a $1,000,000 fine and a three-year period of Supervised Release. Sentencing is scheduled before Chief United States District Judge Joseph H. McKinley, Jr., on May 29, 2014, at 10:00 a.m., in Bowling Green.

Assistant United States Attorney Jo E. Lawless is prosecuting the case. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), in conjunction with the Australian Federal Police, and with the assistance of the United States Postal Inspection Service, conducted the investigation.